National

Burning Man organizers: No fences around major burns this year

RENO, Nev. – The organizers of the Burning Man festival in Nevada have decided against ringing their massive effigy burns with fences, a year after a man ran into the flames and died.

Organizers last year surrounded their second major “burn” with a fence after Aaron Joel Mitchell, 41, ran into the flames surrounding the 100-foot Burning Man structure.

“We are implementing new security measures including more safety personnel and longer perimeter holds for large scale burns,” said Burning Man spokesman Jim Graham.

“There will be no fences at the large burns,” he added.

Perimeter holds are protective barriers of volunteers who ensure that attendees do not endanger themselves by getting too close to active burns. Trained emergency response teams also staff burns.

Mitchell, an American living in Switzerland, ran past several layers of volunteers stationed around the massive fire that engulfed the 105-foot-tall Man effigy and then into the inferno before on-site firefighters in fire resistant gear pulled him out. His death was ruled a suicide.

The next evening, officials chose to surround the Temple burn, another major burn, with fencing.

Burning Man, which attracts 80,000 people to the Black Rock Desert each year, will be held from Aug. 26 to Sept. 3 this year.

The Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency that oversees the event,would not comment on whether it would change its fire safety protocol after last year's death.

"Public health and safety is the BLM's top priority during the Burning Man event and the agency will not release details from the security plan that could negatively impact their effectiveness," said BLM spokesman Kyle Hendrix. "Sensitive information from the security plan could be abused if released and has the potential to create additional public health and safety concerns."